Need local's help — changing venue for Dec 7 2013 wedding.

Okay bees, I’m a bit frustrated.To make a long story short: We need to find a new venue. 🙁We’ve already sent out our save the dates. So we need to keep the same date (12/7 of THIS year).We are on a budget and I’m very willing to DIY, but we want the actual facility to look nice as well. Places we’ve checked out: (when we booked our current venue 8 months ago)*Hollywood schoolhouse (we got a bad vibe from them during our tour..)*Monte Cristo (we’ve ruled them out due to budget)*Fremont Abbey (We ruled them out because of space contraints for cocktail hour)*UW Club (still contemplating)*Mercer Island Community Center (ruled out due to the ‘conference room’ feeling and also budget)*Several park sites — none really ‘spoke’ to us.*Phinney Ridge Center — their space didn’t fit our guest count

Things we are looking for:*Bonus if serparate reception space and ceremony space. But at same location. *I can accept that we will prob be forced to use a required caterer, but I’d LOVE to be able to bring in my own booze either with their bar server or me bringing in a bartender who is licensed. *120 guest count. We MIGHT be able to get this to 100. *Natural light is a huge plus*Not “rustic”.

We are in Seattle proper but are willing to travel 1 hour in any direction from Downtown area. We don’t have many out of town guests so that’s helpful.

Anywhere I should be checking out? I know I’m on a crazy short deadline — we had a bomb dropped on us today. :/

I’m so sorry you’ve had such a big wrench thrown into your wedding planning! Have you heard of Within Sodo? Indoors it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of natural light but it’s an awesome new venue and I’m not sure what the rental fee is but I just looked at the FAQs and they say you can bring your own alcohol and you’re own catered food! It looks gorgeous and urban, super similar to Palace Ballroom downtown (that’s where FI and I are getting married next month!) so I’m definitely partial to it!

I know you mentioned that you would prefer to bring in your own liquor, but have you checked out any wineries in Woodinville? It is usually relatively slow for them in the Winter so they might be willing to work something out with you…

@jsanford: 110 ish (132 invited)We have contacted over 100 venues in the king county ish area. We’ve narrowed down to Emerald Downs, Sanctuary at Admiral, and going to check out Landmark on the Sound this weekend.